Home > Links > Free and Open software and Formats
Free and Open Stuff
(We Hope You Find Useful)
Inkscape
Inkscape is a free program for vector drawing. Inkscape was used to create the original vector artwork on this site. Its native format is SVG, so it is a natural for working with images for the web.
GNU Image Manipulation Program
The GNU Image Manipulation Program (or GIMP for short) is one of the finest free image manipulation tools available. GIMP works very well with PNG images. GIMP was used for the final preparation of the original raster images for this site. While it is not Adobe Photoshop®, it also comes with a much lower price: free.
LibreOffice
A great free alternative Office Suit to replace to Microsoft Office (MS Word, MS Excel, MS Powerpoint). The Quest Card Companion is maintained with LibreOffice.
Firefox
Mozilla's Firefox browser is the one that broke Microsoft's monopoly on the Internet browser market. More secure and more features make Firefox an excellent cross-platform browser choice. Did we mention that it is also free?
Fedora
The Fedora Project is a cutting-edge GNU/Linux distribution with frequent updates and features that push the Linux envelope. Fedora is a free operating system.
Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a slightly less cutting-edge GNU/Linux distribution (about 4 months behind Fedora) with more user-friendly features and polish. Usually. Ubuntu is also a free operating system.
PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
PNG is an open format (not patent-encumbered), as well as a more versatile format than JPEG (which doesn't support 8-bit images or transparency) or GIF (which doesn't support 24-bit images or alpha transparency). All graphics appearing on this site are PNG.
SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)
SVG has been supported by Firefox, Opera, and other browsers for years. Only Microsoft's Internet Explorer does not support SVG natively (though IE9 is expected to include support), which has held back this very useful format. However, SVG is the native format for Inkscape, so there are thousands of clipart images available for use in Inkscape.
Open Clip Art Library
The Open Clip Art Library is a repository of public domain clip art in SVG and PNG formats. You can use these graphics for anything you want!You can also participate, provided that you are willing to contribute your work to the public domain.
Open Font Library
The Open Font Library is a repository of free (libre) and public domain fonts that can be used for design, web pages, and all sorts of applications. Each font is licensed with either the Open Font License (OFL) or is public domain.
Task Coach
Task Coach is a simple open source todo manager to keep track of personal tasks and todo lists. It grew out of a frustration that most task managers do not provide facilities for composite tasks. Often, tasks and other things todo consist of several activities. Task Coach is designed to deal with composite tasks. In addition, it offers effort tracking, categories, and notes. Task Coach is available for Microsoft Windows (Windows 2000 or later), Mac OS X (10.4 or later), Linux (all major distributions), and iPhone and iPod Touch.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons works to increase the amount of creativity (cultural, educational, and scientific content) in “the commons” — the body of work that is available to the public for free and legal sharing, use, repurposing, and remixing.
CrossOver Linux and Crossover Mac from CodeWeavers
If you can't go 100% GNU/Linux or Macintosh and escape the Microsoft® empire, then CodeWeaver’s commercial WINE implementation is an answer.
CodeWeavers makes WINE easy to install and use.
While not free (as in beer), it is not expensive and allows computers with non-Windows operating systems (Intel or AMD x86/x86_64 only) to run some Microsoft Windows® software (freeing you from the Microsoft® monopoly).
CodeWeavers is also one of the major contributors to the WINE project (which is free as in speech), so their code goes back to help the community.
